David had never met Virginia, and he'd only met Keith, his mothers oldest brother, once before when
David was about 13 years old. So we really had no idea what to expect... except when David had written to Keith to tell him we had decided to go straight home from the U.S.S.R and Japan because our finances were running low, we'd received a letter straight back saying 'You have to come to the US... I'll make it worth your while' which we took to mean he would help us get jobs to increase our finances (we arrived with $18 US to last 4 months) so we could see a bit of the U.S.A. (we didn't have work Visas)
Keith had met Virginia in San Francisco when Keith's family were living there in the 1920's. Much to his mothers distress Keith married Virginia secretly in Bathurst, N.S.W and they set up home in Carmel.
We were met dockside by Keith along with Aileen Drury who was a friend of theirs, Aileen drove us to Carmel. David sat in the front and I sat in the back with Keith who for the whole trip spat into a hankerchief which I noticed had a red stain on it. I thought he may have had some horrible dental work done so that was why Aileen was driving and maybe she was his girlfriend... we'd never heard of her but I was wrong on all counts. Firstly Keith didn't like Cities, secondly he was chewing tobacco then spitting it out and thirdly they were just friends, Aileen was helping Keith and Virginia who never went to Cities!
Virginia was the most elegant person I'd ever met, she was tall, slim, beautiful, beautifully spoken... an absolute delight and we hit it off immediately.
Keith and Virginia were very set in their ways, they had separate areas of their home, separate bedrooms and bathrooms, very set times to eat, drink, cook, and so on. Virginia hardly ever left the house, she had a 1962 Falcon that had done maybe 5,000 miles but she did go to their Big Sur hideaway most weekends.
Keith had rented a lovely little Guest Cottage belonging to a neighbour just two doors away so we had our own very comfortable home with bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, sitting room and even a sun deck. We had arrived in a place called Heaven :-)
I just found this on a Real Estate Site on Google....
Mid-Century Contemporary designed by Jon Konigshofer in 1948 with bedroom addition by Comstock and Associates in 1960. The "Keith Evans" house has dramatic views of Carmel Mission, the Santa Lucia Mts. and beyond to Carmel Valley. Considered one of the best remaining examples of Konigshofer's "Hillside House" in the incorp. Carmel area, this historically significant home is ready for loving touch.
These photos are from Google Maps, below on the right is K&V's home and on the far left was the site of our little cottage, it's now a large home.
Still standing today on Google Maps.
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